


i'll have you safe

by peaktotheocean



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music Store, Canon-Typical Violence, Feral Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion and Renfri | Shrike are Siblings, Jaskier | Dandelion is Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon's Parent, M/M, OSHA violations, Supernatural Jury Duty, Time is an Illusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24498454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peaktotheocean/pseuds/peaktotheocean
Summary: "Stop flirting with the twink," Lambert grumbled. "I want a beer and we're already getting dirty looks for holding up the bar."Jaskier let out an insulted gasp. "Excuse you! I’m clearly an otter!" He hissed at Lambert, swiping the ten out of his outstretched hand."A what?""An otter," Jaskier annunciated, pressing his hand to his chest where his shirt was unbuttoned probably more than health & safety would have liked, showing ample chest hair. He needn't have called attention to it though, Geralt had already been looking at it.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion & Renfri | Shrike
Comments: 56
Kudos: 574





	1. Prologue

Geralt had felt cornered countless times in his life but never such as he did while standing between Yennefer and Renfri at this moment. The two most formidable women in his life had him surrounded and behind them, his brother was holding the baby like it was a bomb set on a timer.

"She's not mine," Geralt said gruffly. It was his wanting to be done with this scenario as opposed to any courage that gave him the motivation, or maybe it was stupidity, to meet Renfri's eyes. Even as his boss, Renfri's expression and reactions were easier to handle as opposed to his ex's or Eskel's. 

She instantly rolled her eyes, no sympathy for his situation. He's sure that she would have found the situation amusing if she had the time or patience. Unfortunately, Renfri had neither and after the last week of betrayals, missions, and radio silence to keep their entire conglomerate under the radar, Geralt couldn't blame her. 

"You're the idiot who claimed Law of Surprise as if it were the middle ages," she told him as if she was chastising a schoolboy instead of one of her Witcher enforcers. Geralt hadn't been school-age in centuries but Renfri made him feel like he was back standing next to his brothers, in trouble for taunting the goats so much that they headbutted right through the gate.

"I had no other choice. And what would you have me do? Raise the child?" Geralt's tone of voice made it clear that he thought that option was the worst of all the possible choices. Sure they were in the sewer and a quarter of their number had been eliminated in a battle with one of the cities largest kikimore systems but the idea of Geralt raising a child was laughable, especially to him. 

The kikimore queen was dead now but only just. The sewer had nearly collapsed on them and yet Geralt felt himself longing for that time only 45 minutes ago.

Yennefer didn't take part in the conversation, but she watched him more closely than he had ever been comfortable with. He knew she had always wanted a family. It wasn't the reason they had separated those years ago. Yennefer's job, their organization, none of it could sustain a family. That didn't mean Geralt wanted to see the hunger in her eyes as she looked at the babe in Eskel's arms.

"So, for now you are forsaking your destiny," Renfri said, not asking. 

"For now and for ever."

"For now," Renfri corrected him. "Fair enough. I guess we'll revisit this in a couple of years." She gave him one last look, knowing that he was stopping himself from replying, before turning around and he knew it was a dismissal. She took the baby from Eskel, adjusting it with care Geralt hadn't seen before but then again, he had to consider that she hadn't ever seen Renfri hold a child, let alone a baby. 

Geralt watched her go, ignoring Yennefer's stare and fighting the urge to ask where she was taking the child. It wasn't his job or responsibility. He had other work to do. 


	2. Chapter 1

The bell above the shop door rang in the quietest fashion, as if someone knew the bell was there and that it was unavoidable. Not that they were trying to keep their entrance a secret, but rather hated the loud noise and knew Jaskier would be listening regardless of the volume. 

Not only was the proprietor of the shop listening but he instantly knew who was at his door. "Yennefer!" He called from the stock closet just off the show room, if one could call a carpeted shop with secondhand instruments a show room. "I'm right here!"

"It's not that big of a place. I figured if the door was open, you'd be close around." Yennefer made her way around the selection of woodwind instruments to the display cases at the cash register.

"You don't know that," Jaskier told her from behind a stack of boxes that he let out a grunt setting down on the front counter. "Maybe I've decided I had had enough! Ciri and I went on the lam! Taken off for parts unknown! Sipping margaritas on a beach somewhere, baby!"

Yennefer looked down at the real baby in question. A toddler of near two years old, wildly curly blonde bouncing as she did, up & down in her neon green activity center that was hooked to the front desk. She hadn't noticed her Aunt Yennefer yet but was rather focused on reaching for the Cheerios that had just gotten out of her reach on the furthest end of the plastic tray that surrounded her. She didn't have to check to know that not only was Ciri strapped into the activity jumper, she was also locked in. 

When Renfri entrusted her brother with Ciri's care almost two years ago, Yennefer wasn't sure how much information Jaskier had actually been given but judging by the precautions he took when he had her in his music store’s shopping area, Renfri shared more with her brother about their operations than Yennefer ever did. She treated her time with Jaskier and Ciri as a respite more than anything else and Jaskier had always indulged her with her Aunt Yen time. 

"I'd say you'd never leave us but I have a feeling Renfri has been trying to get you somewhere safely for more years than I care to count."

"I'd never leave the shop," Jaskier told her earnestly, waving his arm around as his small music shop, filled haphazardly as it was with instruments, supplies, cases, and sheet music books as though he had had the place for a century as opposed to just the last decade. "Or my sister, or you," he added on with a wink.

“She needs better spatial awareness," Yen told him, ignoring his comment in favor of pushing Cheerios towards Ciri who shrieked in delight.

“Should I have done that before starting the potty-training?” Jaskier asked sweetly. He considered himself being very nice considering he hadn't asked Yen why she was in his shop so early in the morning. She knew he wanted to ask too but they had played this game often enough that both knew neither would give up so easily.

He straightened up and in his best Frodo voice, said to Yen, "All right then, keep your secrets.”

She ignored him. Typical. "Wasn't this place a tailor shop at the beginning of the last century?"

Jaskier sighed and press a hand down his front, as if he could remember the feel of a certain waistcoat that he missed dearly. "Of course it was. And could you blame me? Those figures everyone was cutting? I had to join in."

"And now? I never asked what sparked the turn into a music shop." Truly, before Ciri, she and Jaskier had only gotten along out of necessity. It was different now. And the more she learned about Jaskier, it gave her more of an insight into Renfri as well. Not that it was her intention but she couldn't deny her curiosity about the duo had only been building for the last few decades.

"Well," Jaskier looked to the corner of the shop where an old lute was hanging in a case, the only instrument behind glass. "If I'm being honest, I've really missed music. It's been quite some time. And if the schools are going to insist on cutting music programs, I'm going to insist on teaching music to the masses. Someone has to employ--"

The shop phone rang and Yennefer waved Jaskier away, kneeling down on the outdated carpet and finally claiming Ciri's attention for her own.

"My darling brother," Renfri's voice was too sweet for so early in the morning. Jaskier leaned on the hard edge of the counter and eyed Yennefer. He had no doubt the two were connected. 

"What do you need?" He cut to the chase, eyeing the door to the shop and wondering if he should just lock up and call it a day. He'd only really have to cancel one lesson. Maybe he'd convince Yen to go to the zoo with them or something. 

"Who said I needed anything?"

Jaskier tucked the phone between his ear and his shoulder and reached for the box of Cheerios that was a little further than the cord would allow him to reach. He poked Yen in the shoulder with them until she took the box. "It's far too early for you to be calling me for anything less than an emergency or a favor, my dear sister."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"Mmmm." 

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Or if I couldn't guarantee your safety." Jaskier knew that. They both did. Off the top of his head, Jaskier couldn't think of anything that was more important to him than Renfri and vice-versa, with the exception of Ciri. She rarely asked for anything, was loathe to put him in danger, but knew exactly when he was needed. 

Jaskier was charming, was the thing, and everyone knew it. It was easy to get people to open up around him whether over a drink or just a shared conversation. He had been like that for ages and it almost always was a boon.

Not to mention, he wasn't known in their current organization. Doing Renfri a favor made her more nervous than him and in a way, it was like a supernatural jury duty. He wouldn't be used again for another ten or twenty years, once Renfri was sure that mortals or even immortals wouldn't remember the handsome young face of a man who had cheated them out of some kind of information.

"Hang on a moment." Jaskier covered the phone even though he knew it wouldn't matter. "Were you going to tell me you were here to babysit or were you just waiting for Renfri to take the heat for this one?"

Yennefer just smiled at him, finger on her lips in a shushing noise and she rocked Ciri back and forth in her arms. He didn't bother asking how she had gotten Ciri out of the lock. His darling girl was squirming and giggling in her aunt's arms and he knew that she was safe. He reached out to her anything, running his fingers gently over her hair.

"Yes, yes, all right. Who am I going to be tonight?"

"You are Gregory, a new bartender over at O'Malley's. Nothing big. Just keep your eyes and ears open. A few of ours will be there but near as we can tell, nothing is supposed to happen this week."

"Is O'Malley's one of yours now? I didn't think you all had a hold in that neighborhood yet." Jaskier, for all that he talked often to his sister, mainly kept a map of places in his head for him to avoid. Not out of danger but because if Renfri caught him near a supernatural club or a particularly grim elf hold, she'd be more furious with him than if he had been injured in the first place. Not that it had ever stopped him. But once she had officially teamed up with Witchers in the 20th century, it became a little harder to hide given that the bastards smelled everything. Although Jaskier prided himself on having a unique everything, he knew his scent was similar enough to Renfri's to cause more than just an eyebrow raise. A few of them knew of his existence but only out of necessity and Renfri liked to keep it that way.

"Not yet. But it will be."

Jaskier looked down at what he was already wearing. He could potentially get away with wearing these pants but a flirty bartender? He might have to go tighter. "So I'm Gregory the new bartender, first night on the job and?" 

"You came highly recommended and have been a licensed bartender for three years."

"Mmm, I bet. I'm talented like that, aren't I?"

"Yen has a wallet with ID for you. You're meeting a Jonathan at the kitchen door at 4PM."

"Do I get to keep my tips from this?" Jaskier wondered aloud as his sister mentioned other unimportant details like an actual dress code and remembering to eat dinner before he went. Honestly, he was a grown immortal man who cared for a child. So what if his main meal Tuesday last had been a double box of macaroni and cheese? "Also what even is going on at O'Malley's?"

“Vampires.”

“I hate vampires," Jaskier whined, well aware he sounded like his daughter not five minutes ago when she wanted more Cheerios.

“We all hate vampires.”


	3. Chapter 2

"I hate vampires," Geralt grumbled to Lambert. 

"We all hate vampires," his brother replied, sounding just as put out. 

Why couldn't the vampires ever run a library or retail store? Something that was only open during the day. No, it always had to be bars they had taken up from enchanted or weak humans so that the Witchers and others in Renfri's employ had no choice but to go on their turf at night to try and gain some element of surprise. 

Technology had evolved so that Geralt's brothers could order him a package that exploded glitter the moment he opened it and yet a vampire nest was still virtually untraceable in the modern world. 

Granted that could be because most of the modern world was unaware of Witchers, vampires, and the like. 

But that didn't mean it wasn't irksome. 

Geralt could never hide in their organization or outside of it. His white hair and the scars of his brothers brought attention whether from mortals or the supernatural. The one saving grace was that the Witchers had kept their association with Renfri quiet for years. That, at least, granted him some kind of clout. It wasn't anonymity but the looks they received on gaining entrance into the club weren't suspicion on account of a potential job, just on account that they were Witchers.

Thank fuck it was a bar tonight. Last month had been a club and even with ear plugs, he had felt overwhelmed. Bars were more manageable. The noise would be loud but he would take that over flashing lights. 

The place wasn't too dark a dump like vampires normally congregated towards. Geralt noted that it didn't much look at all like any place they had seen vampires in prior. A sports bar? What would be the point. They couldn't influence humans if they were all distracted by televisions and local sports teams. 

Lambert hummed and Geralt knew his brother was thinking the exact same thing. They didn't have to speak but Geralt followed him towards the bar, past booths and tables, carefully cataloging the patrons.

Most seemed human, a few smelled of vampires but weren't vampires. Geralt could count at least four vampires, someone who had some kind of elf blood in them but also one person who had to be at least a little bit fae. The last two, at least, shouldn't be an issue.

Well, presumably no one should be an issue tonight. They weren't here for a fight, they had just come out to O'Malley's to check it out and gauge the clientele. Most of which seemed startlingly normal.

Not letting his guard down, Geralt still let his shoulders fall a bit. 

"How can I help you gentlemen tonight?" The bartender asked, leaning comfortably against the bar. "We've got seasonal lagers on tap as well as a few of the local IPAs recently put out by the microbrewery down the street." 

Geralt huffed, "No thank you. I'll not have a beer full of fruit. It should taste like beer."

"Well, handsome, we have that too." The bartender didn't seem put off by Geralt's grumpiness, but rather encouraged by it. "Are you sure I can't convince you to try the chocolate one? I watched one of the waitresses try it early and she called it 'scrumptious.'"

Having centuries to perfect his facial expressions, Geralt knew at that moment that his face was reading _"If you ever offer me a flavored beer again, I will make sure you regret it."_

It only made the bartender smile at him with his bright eyes.

He leaned over the bar, face close to Geralt's and, in a sultry voice, whispered "Have you ever had whipped cream vodka?" 

Geralt shook his head, letting himself laugh a bit. He couldn't stop his nostrils from flaring at the bartender's scent though. He smelled almost like-- 

"Stop flirting with the twink," Lambert grumbled. "I want a beer and we're already getting dirty looks for holding up the bar."

The bartender let out an insulted gasp and pushed himself back so both feet were firmly on the floor behind the bar again. "Excuse you! I’m clearly an otter!" He hissed at Lambert, swiping the ten out of his outstretched hand. Geralt was willing to bet Lambert wasn't going to get any change back, whether he had wanted it or not.

"A what?"

"An otter," he annunciated, pressing his hand to his chest where his shirt was unbuttoned probably more than health & safety would have liked, showing ample chest hair. He needn't have called attention to it though, Geralt had already been looking at it. 

He looked up from the bartender's chest to his face. "You...otter shut up." Geralt looked horrified at the words coming out of his mouth. He received an absolute delighted smile in return.

"Will you marry me?" the bartender asked seriously. "I'll give your friend here his ale and then you and I can talk about how we're going to have a spring wedding."

“Spring?”

“Well, with your complexion, I don’t think winter would be a good idea,” he said, sounding genuinely apologetic.

"Another time, maybe," Geralt said politely, giving a nod as he took his beer. 

The bartender winked at him. "I'll be here til close, handsome."

Geralt followed Lambert over to two free stools in front of one of the televisions. His brother was already complaining about the game. 

“You see, first, I thought they were playing so slowly because it was one hundred degrees during games. Now, I just think it’s meant to be that slow.” Geralt didn't respond but that never stopped Lambert. “What’s the point?” He asked, frustrated, gesturing at the television, as if baseball hadn't been like that since the 1880s.

In a way, Geralt was grateful. It would have been stranger still for them to just be sitting in silence as though they were waiting for something. Instead, Geralt got to listen to the conversations around them and watch as Lambert multi-tasked: keeping an eye on the bar and pretending to be interesting in the baseball game. 

Only one person came over to them and it was to try to hit on them (besides the bartender, who had taken to winking obviously anytime Geralt looked over at him). Unfortunately for them, the woman did it by trying to talk to them about the game. 

“I hope the pitching holds up.”

“The what?” Geralt had asked before she had quickly walked away. She hadn't smelt of anything beyond human. Nothing worth paying attention to.

“This is hell. They are three hours in and they're only on the sixth inning. How is that even possible. I’d rather fight something than watch another minute," Lambert grumbled.

“That can be arranged," a voice came from behind them. Lambert turned around almost immediately but Geralt sighed and downed the last of his ale before giving the pleasure. 

A tall vampire dressed in slacks and a smart jacket was standing behind them. Few patrons appeared to have noticed but the ones near him who had were whispering to themselves. One table got up to leave, taking their drinks and basket of fries with them. 

'Fuck,' Geralt thought to himself. This night wasn't supposed to be violent. It was just supposed to be for reconnaissance. He looked at Lambert who shrugged. 

The tension in their small corner was high. None of the three men moved until the vampire spoke again. He eyed the two Witchers and then slowly turned his gaze to check on the rest of the bar and see who, if anyone, was watching the proceedings. "Don't think we don't know what you're doing. I don't know who you're working with but this bar, this neighborhood, is ours."

"We heard this place was friendly to our kind," Geralt said simply, carefully keeping his expression blank. "We were just having a drink, enjoying the game," Geralt gestured to the television and bit back an annoyed huff when Lambert couldn't stop himself from laughing. Then, at least, the vampire went towards Lambert first so Geralt had a view of what he was attacking. 

They had only brought a few knives with them which Geralt had realized over the decades was still more knives than a non-Witcher would have on their person. Still, they could do some damage with them. The vampire must have been young. He didn't have the same grace as older ones Geralt had encountered before. Certainly no match for a Witcher either, let alone two.

It didn't take long for the humans to clear out, the smart ones at any rate. Nor did it take long for the remaining three vampires to come to the aid of their nestmate along with a few of the humans, whether by enchantment or loyalty. It was one of the smallest fights Geralt had been a part of in ages and that did nothing to ease Geralt's tension. 

Some would call it luck but he called it suspicious. Almost like this was a test. He didn't like it. 

With a final blow, he whirled around, eyes first going to Lambert who had apparently deemed them not in any more danger and had gone back to pick up his drink. 

Geralt leaned over a few of the bodies. One human, smelling richly of vampire, had unusual wounds given that neither Geralt nor Lambert used throwing knives. They were a little uncommon to be used by vampires too. Perhaps there was something else at play. He'd have to make a note of it.

“We’ve got to call Renfri," Lambert told him. "Sooner rather than later before she hears about it or before someone comes back in--"

Geralt waved him off, phone around in hand. "Somethings happened," he told her once she picked up.

To add to Geralt's worries, Renfri showed up almost immediately via a portal. 

_A portal._

Geralt looked at Yennefer with narrowed eyes and a curious expression. He couldn't recall the last time Yennefer had made a portal and he certainly didn't think she had ever made one for Renfri. Yennefer's magic hadn't waned over the centuries but it was certainly more easily traceable and evident. It also wasn't part of their agreement with Renfri. Something was at play. He just didn't know what.

Once again, he didn't have to wait long. 

Renfri's eyes swept over the place and she headed straight for the bar. Knocking up the gate, tension visibly left her body as she found what she was looking for.

"Nothing big, she says. Just keep your eyes and ears open she says," said a grumbling voice but that someone grabbed Renfri's outstretched hand behind the bar. 

The bartender.

"Is Gregory quite done hiding?" Renfri pulled him up from his place on the sticky floor.

"Absolutely disgusting," He moaned, ignoring her question. "I liked these pants."

He looked fine, barely shaken. Geralt looked at Lambert who shrugged. Yennefer didn't answer to Geralt's questioning hum but instead joined Renfri and the bartender-- Gregory, Geralt had heard.

Renfri brushed back the hair off Gregory's forehead which only caused Geralt and Lambert to look at one another again. "There's not blood on them, you'll be fine."

He hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. "Those two cleared this place out quick. Fine Witchers you've got there."

"And we're not done yet. Head on home," she looked at him sternly," Now. And I'll tell you about it in the morning, promise."

“Come on, Jask. Before your sister makes me throw you over my shoulder," Eskel called from where he had arrived at the front door. He had positioned himself so he could keep an eye on the outside as well as the doorway into the kitchen.

Geralt went still at the word ‘sister’ and looked up at Renfri who was glaring at Eskel. Eskel and the bartender, Jask? Gregory? shook hands. When the bartender went to try to turn it into a more complicated handshake, Eskel just shook his head and walked back to his post. 

Renfri stood straight and Geralt was reminded of why they had joined her in the first place. She hadn't led them astray yet, nor had she betrayed them. “Jaskier’s existence is on a need to know basis. Besides, I thought you were coming here tomorrow.”

“Plans changed. And you just called him Gregory," Geralt said tightly. "What kind of game are you playing?"

“No game," Renfri sounded sincere but Geralt had heard a lot of people pull off earnestness in his life. "Do you think I’d let my brother come out to one of our bars using his real name?”

"Oh, now it’s your bar," the man, Jaskier, finally, murmured, reaching up to the tip jar and grabbing a handful of ones. "Nothing big," he repeated to himself again with the same bravado as he had flirted with Geralt. He stuck the money into his pants which, now that Geralt could see him better, were tight and...distracting.

Lambert raised an eyebrow at Geralt before looking at their boss. “Surprised you let him out at all."

“He’s a people person and a pretty okay bartender.” Renfri shrugged. “Not to mention he’s not noticeable as part of our organization. Needs must.”

Lambert nodded approvingly, "It's why he didn't run out when everything started."

"And why Gregory the bartender will be listed among the deceased tomorrow." Renfri's eyes narrowed as her brother put on his most innocent expression. “Did you do anything I should know about?”

“I would never!” 

“Jaskier...” Renfri started, torn between telling him she didn't have the time or actually making Eskel carry him out of there.

“I threw one measly knife at someone," Jaskier told her dismissively. Renfri groaned with the exhaustion of someone who had been trying to get her brother to stop throwing knives at someone for centuries. She knew it was partially her fault since she taught him how to throw them in the first place and was often fighting alongside him. But still. 

Geralt looked between the two of them. "I had wondered about that person's injury..." 

"Gregory did that, not me," Jaskier insisted, turning his full earnest expression onto Geralt. "He was acting in self-defense."

"From fifteen feet away and behind the bar?" Geralt asked him with a smirk. Part of him wanted to be embarrassed that Jaskier had took him for a mark to flirt with but he couldn't help but be impressed. 

"This is why you two have never met," Renfri said, exhausted. "Jaskier, go home before I get Eskel to make you go home. You," she pointed at Geralt, "with me."


	4. Chapter 3

“The handsome scowly pun man is outside my shop and I don’t think he’s here to buy saxophone reeds, Renfri.”

“That handsome what?” He could feel his sister resisting the urge to rub her fingers on the side of her forehead. For one, she'd have to put the phone down, otherwise it would be uneven-- one side of her head would still be pounding. For another, she was in the middle of a meeting and Jaskier never called her from the shop line unless there was a reason, or if he had forgotten his phone upstairs, sure. But normally there was a real reason.

Jaskier craned his neck in a most unsubtle fashion, trying to catch a glance of the man again. He didn't know many other people with white hair past their shoulders. He could see those gorgeous locks through the space between the curtains hanging on the window of his shop door. 

“One of your Witchers. The white-haired one from the bar last week who made the pun and then looked like he was going to--.”

"Geralt," Renfri interrupted Jaskier before he could really send himself into a spiral. "Geralt's at the shop?"

Jaskier corrected her with a hum, "He's outside the shop." Near as he could tell, Geralt had only been out there for a few minutes, presumably waiting for Jaskier to open. "I don't know how long he's been loitering but am I in trouble?"

"No, you're not in trouble." Renfri paused. "Unless you _should_ be in trouble for some reason?"

"I've not done anything to warrant trouble this week, dear sister," Jaskier told her. He supposed Geralt wouldn't have been waiting in a subdued fashion if he was there to cause trouble. A locked door doesn't do much to stop a Witcher, even a mildly enchanted door like Jaskier's wouldn't slow him down too terribly.

If he wanted to do harm to Jaskier or Ciri, Geralt wouldn't just be leaning against the brick wall between the front door and the display window. Presumably. 

Without waiting for Renfri, a move that had gotten Jaskier in some trouble in years prior [yet hadn't ever stopped him] he hung up the phone and stuck his head out the shop door, the bell chiming so loudly that he saw the Witcher wince. "Are you going to come inside or are you going to loom there at my entrance so no one else has the courage to step by you to come in?"

Geralt didn't look like he knew how to respond to being addressed so bluntly. "In?" He tried. 

"Inside? I've got a shop to open soon so I'm certainly not going to go outside. Come on, I've got inventory to set out."

The Witcher obeyed, head tilted a bit, as if Jaskier offered a stray puppy some chicken and told him to follow him. Still, it worked and now Jaskier had a very uncomfortable-looking man trying to make himself seem small in a crowded music shop among the spinning racks of music & reeds and instrument displays.

"How did you even know how to find me?" Jaskier called over his shoulder, not accusatorially, just curious. Geralt couldn't tell if Jaskier was just that open with emotions or just good at hiding them. He thought back to the bar and the flirting. Perhaps a little bit of both. 

"My brother. Eskel," Geralt told him, seeing Jaskier's confusion at the word 'brother.' 

"Eskel is your brother?"

"Witchers are all brothers," Geralt said stiffly.

Jaskier only smiled at him, not put off by the change in tone. "I wasn't questioning that, just that Renfri doesn't have Witchers come by too often. Eskel is the only one I've met and he never much talks about any other Witchers. Well, he never talks much at all but still..."

Ciri's babbling became audible and Jaskier purposefully poked his head out from around the corner quickly to where she was bouncing in her activity center. The suddenness of her father appearing, and only his head at that, caused her shrieking laugh to pitch as high as ever. 

"I'd say she's not hungry and not to let her fool you but honestly, I think she just started another growth spurt and there's no harm in another bowl or two of oatmeal." 

Jaskier talked like he very well didn't need Geralt to respond to anything. He and Renfri had that in common. On the very rare occasion with Renfri, it could be grating when it was about missions but with Jaskier, it was...calming. Jaskier didn't need a response but he wasn't dismissing Geralt, rather, he was bringing him into a fold Geralt hadn't known existed. 

"Your child?" Geralt asked dumbly. Renfri hadn't mentioned being an aunt. The child was...loud and blonde. Her eyes looked like Jaskier's, not in color, but in their brightness.

"Yes, that's my daughter," Jaskier said proudly. "You know, I say there's no harm in the oatmeal but it'll end up all over this rotten carpet and I'll only have myself to blame." 

Geralt saw the lock around the baby's belt to the center and then to the front desk. It seemed like a Yennefer product. So Yennefer knew about Jaskier and his daughter as well.

With bag of oatmeal in hand, Jaskier let Geralt wander around the shop as he prattled on, talking about his lessons that afternoon and how it was good to see him again and would Geralt be willing to ask Renfri for his throwing knife back because it was one of his favorites. Geralt laughed at that but shook his head. 

"I'm not fool enough to ask that of your sister after what happened at O'Malley's last week."

"What did happen?" Jaskier asked curiously. 

Geralt stopped at that. "She didn't say?"

"She never says. Granted, I never really ask anymore. I don't want to put her in the position where she has to say no. If it's important, like moving or moving a shop or something, she'll let me know but..."

"Hmm. Vampires."

Jaskier gave him an unimpressed look. "Yes, Geralt, I've gathered that much, thank you." The front bell rang again, quietly. He handed a bowl of oatmeal and a plastic child's spoon to Geralt. 

"Yen?" he called out.

"Yennefer?" Geralt asked, confused.

"Nen!" Came a squeaky demand. Jaskier ignored Geralt and beamed down at his daughter, perfectly content to not be frightened or squabbling for food if Yennefer was around. 

"That's right, darling. It's Auntie Yen."

"Auntie?" Geralt asked dumbly. Yen turned the around the slight corner of the shop to the cashier's desk and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Geralt holding a small bowl of oatmeal, the outside dotted with sheeps and a bright purple spoon.

"Renfri said you were scaring Jaskier. Why are you here?"  
  
Geralt blinked. "Scaring him?" He looked over as Jaskier, confused and, perhaps even a little hurt if Jaskier was reading things right. 

Jaskier waved off his concern. "Normally when a man associated with my sister is found sneaking around in close proximity to me, it means that I'm in trouble, one way or another."

"And you let me in anyway?" Geralt asked, not able to decide if he was confused or horrified, perhaps both. Yennefer's laughter was doing nothing to ease his mind about Jaskier's lack of self-preservation. 

"It's not like the lock would have stopped you. Besides, I had caught you off-guard before and made you laugh. I was optimistic about a repeat performance."

Geralt didn't look at either of them. He looked at his shoes, the sheet music display in front of the cashier desk, and the child. 

"I. Apologies," he finally got out. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Oh I'm never frightened," Jaskier swiftly lied without trying to hide it, plucking the bowl of oatmeal from Geralt's hands.

"Did you just apologize to him?" Yen looked at Geralt in horrid fascination, tilting her head to one side. "Can you do it again so I can film it and you can deliver it to Renfri yourself."

"Myself?"

"Himself?"

Yennefer looked between the two of them but her expression didn't give anything away. Geralt was pleased to see that Jaskier seemed disappointed as he felt. “She wants to see you.”

“Now?” Jaskier and Geralt asked at the same time and Jaskier laughed, rolling his eyes.

“Right now,” Yennefer told them, sickly sweet.

Geralt growled at her and Ciri giggled at the noise.

"Oh! Well that's different." Jaskier's laugh echoed that of his daughter's. Geralt, in that moment, maybe thought he understood what harmonies were about. 

It was a stark difference to forty-five minutes later when Geralt was in Renfri's office, both of them refusing to speak first. It was stubbornness on Geralt's part but Renfri looked as though she was rather enjoying herself. 

A knock on the door broke the stalemate. No one came in. It was just a warning knock. They had little time left for their impromptu meeting.

Renfri shook her head. "Listen, since you already know where the shop is and I'd rather avoid most people knowing where Jaskier is, you can keep an eye on him. Switch off with Eskel or Yen when you need to."

Remembering Jaskier's words from earlier, Geralt asked, "Is he in trouble?" He hadn't seen anyone else outside of the shop either when arriving or leaving. Nothing smelled suspicious either, or at least, he hadn't noticed any smells out of the ordinary.

He had rarely seen Renfri worried, even a little bit. It didn't look like other people's worry. She wore her worry as if it was determination. "We're not sure yet. More than one persons search came up for Gregory after that night. More than expected."

"He smells like you," Geralt told her, after thinking for a minute. "Enough that I was reminded of you at the bar. Perhaps, I mean—“

Renfri interrupted him sharply, "Normal vampires don't have your sense of smell."

"No," Geralt growled at her. He knew that. "But—“

Renfri cut him off again, "A higher vampire would. Fuck."

Geralt agreed, “Fuck.”


	5. Chapter 4

Geralt braced himself for what was sure to be a long day. His first full day with Jaskier and his daughter in the store, going over files from Renfri in the back room while Jaskier taught lessons and kept shop. He was trying not to think about how domestic it sounded. It was there to do a job, no matter the eyes Eskel made at him or comments from Yennefer.

Jaskier had tried talk to him about the shop's schedule over the phone but Geralt found it hard to focus when he went off on a tangent regarding a late shipment of music stands that was supposedly a tragedy because there was to be a "school concert next week, Geralt!" and "they can't hold their instruments and the sheet music at the same time."

In the end, it turned out that Geralt would be leaving the shop after only five minutes anyway so the schedule didn't particularly matter. 

Jaskier welcomed him with a smile that Geralt knew they'd have to talk about at some point. Not in a bad way but in a way that Jaskier's expression seem to just hint at the fact that he knew Geralt spent too much time looking for a shirt that seemed least wrinkled until giving up because he didn't want to be late. 

He was quickly ushered up the stairs and into a small, cozy apartment. If possible, it smelled even more of the combination of Jaskier and Renfri. Geralt hummed and made a note to tell Yennefer. Perhaps it was obvious from the street as well. 

Jaskier walked him by a faded couch that seemed to rely more on pillows and blankets than conventional cushions to a long piece of wood on four legs that looked like it had been a respectable kitchen table sometime in the previous century. Whatever surfaces weren't covered with children's books and toys had instruments on them-- or at least pieces of instruments that Jaskier had taken apart to fix. Half of the shop's stock seemed to be be in the apartment rather than in the shop itself.

"Have you eaten? She's on a pancake kick. I make her loads of little ones and then she eats only 20% of them while covering herself in maple syrup and jam."

Geralt shook his head, catching the attention of the little girl. Jaskier's daughter looked very suspicious of the large, white-haired man. Customers in the shop were one thing but rarely did Jaskier have anyone besides Renfri or Yennefer in his apartment above the store. 

"Darling, this is Geralt. You laughed at him before, I promise. Geralt, this is Cirilla." Jaskier leaned down to kiss the top of her head and got a eye-full of maple syrup for his trouble. 

Not that he seemed to notice. 

Not that Geralt noticed either.

He was too busy focusing on the girl's name.

Cirilla.

"Your child's name is Cirilla," Geralt said in a low voice. It wasn't a question. Things were coming together for him now. This was Renfri's family.

She wouldn't have entrusted his child surprise to anyone less.

"Just Ciri for short," Jaskier told him brightly but the smile fell off his face when he saw Geralt's expression.

Geralt growled and Jaskier leaned backwards, closer to his daughter. To Cirilla. 

It was the first time Jaskier had looked upon him with something akin to fear. And Geralt didn't like it. At the moment, however, he liked destiny less.

"Your daughter's name is Cirilla?" He said again, this time asking it as a question. He didn't want to say anything more out loud. He just looked at the girl. 

He could barely see the baby she had been near two years prior. Geralt could feel the phantom weight in his arms from the only time he had held her. He wanted to close his eyes and be away from this place. Far away. Maybe even back in time before he had uncharacteristically asked Eskel about Renfri's brother or even before meeting Jaskier at the bar.

"Yes..." Jaskier looked confused but caught on quickly enough. Thank god. Less explaining for Geralt to do. He wasn't sure how much coherent speaking he'd be able to accomplish. "Oh my god. You're the one who did it. You're the one who invoked the law of surprise," he said quietly, looking away from Geralt and focusing on his daughter.

Jaskier looked as though he wanted to say many things but didn't say any of them. Geralt was grateful but still wanted to just leave. He felt it all over his body. He had to leave. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he couldn't take it. 

He growled again, at himself this time, and now Ciri's giggles weren't accompanied by Jaskier's at all. Jaskier was looking at his daughter like he couldn't imagine how anyone could have had her and given her away. Like a devoted father. 

"Excuse me," Geralt said haltingly, trying to take as much of the gruffness out of his voice as he could manage. Even now, he didn't want Jaskier to fear him. "I need. To talk to your sister."

\-------

Jaskier must have warned Renfri that Geralt was on his way. He would not have been able to crack her busy schedule otherwise for anything less than an emergency. He tried not to think about what Jaskier might have told her. As he walked through headquarters, Geralt wished one of his brothers, or even Yennefer, were there with him. He even wished he hadn't left Jaskier's apartment at all.

Geralt at least had the self-control to wait until the door to Renfri's office shut to ask in a quiet, menacing voice, "Jaskier's daughter is my child surprise?" 

He was all too aware of members of the organization outside the office. They were not alone and Renfri knew it too. 

She sighed, "I had hoped you had already realized this before you agreed to watch over Jaskier. I thought that I was doing you a courtesy by not bringing it up again and I'll take the blame for that." Renfri looked directly at him. "But only for that."

Geralt didn't bother resisting the urge to growl at her. She had been around Witchers long enough that she wasn't intimidated. Normally Geralt respected that. Now he found it frustrating but she didn't give him the opportunity to cut in with any response.

"How often have you Witchers tried to fight destiny and lost? When I made the agreement with your Vesemir," Geralt flinched at the mention of his teacher's name, "I promised that you would have my protection and that didn't just mean within my organization. It meant for life. I'm not about to let you do something so self-destructive as to spit on destiny directly," Renfri told him in a commanding tone. "You've been around long enough to know better. I certainly learned my lesson about it. And I won't let anyone under my watch be subject to the same foolhardiness." 

Silence hung in rafters of Renfri's office. Geralt took her words and turned them over his head. Destiny, Jaskier, Cirilla. 

"What does this mean...for..." 

For me, Geralt wanted to say. For Jaskier. For Ciri. For any of them. He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. Renfri took pity on him and he was reminded once again why the Witchers partnered with her. They understood one another almost too well.

"Ciri is Jaskier's daughter now. And no matter what will come from this conversation, I will not let you take him away from her," Renfri said firmly, with steel behind it. 

"That was not," Geralt said hoarsely, backtracking. "I wouldn't. The two of them belong together. Anyone can see that." He wished his words would come easier. He wished Jaskier was here to help. He wished Jaskier was here full stop.

Renfri hummed at him in a familiar way. "Whatever your battle is with destiny, get over it before it affects my brother anymore. You think your meeting him while he cares for the child surprise is destiny? I tried my best to keep you two away from one another even before Ciri." Renfri leaned forward in her chair and broke the tension with a smile. "Unfortunately, you're just each others type, child surprise notwithstanding."

Geralt thought back to the bar, the flirting, the throwing knife. How Geralt had found himself making a joke because he just had a thought that Jaskier would like it. Jaskier was a loving, attractive menace which unfortunately meant Renfri really did know Geralt’s type.

"Something happened around two hundred years ago," Renfri said suddenly. She looked surprised at herself. Like she hadn't expected to say that to Geralt, or anyone. "And Jaskier took a step back from, all of this." she gestured around the office. Geralt wasn't sure if she meant magic, monsters, or everything. "He never took a step forward but even when he wanted to, I was...scared,” she said, as if she was admitting a weakness. She frowned at herself. “He never pushed, not really. He seemed content to let me call upon him with...odd jobs,” she said delicately, with a smile, both of them thinking to Ciri.

"Since you're heading back there, give him this, would you?" Renfri asked, pushing forward on her desk a knife. Jaskier's throwing knife. "Maybe tomorrow. Give him the day to cool off. He's not happy with you right now."

"Hmm," Geralt sighed. He used a single finger to pull the knife towards him and flipped it into his hand. He fit it snugly besides one of his own. 

If this had been a normal instance of bodyguarding, Renfri wouldn't have had this conversation with him. But this was her brother and niece and Jaskier was...Geralt's type, apparently. In a way, it was a blessing of sorts. 

In another, it was absolutely terrifying. Destiny was terrifying. 

Geralt already knew what he was going to do before he left her office and he fought with himself the whole way back to Jaskier's shop. Taking two different cars, walking most of a mile, and then wandering around the neighborhood's perimeter just to be safe. 

Renfri had said Jaskier wasn't happy with him but the same force that had had Geralt itching to leave the shop earlier was the same one calling him back now. 

The shop was quiet when he arrived between lessons. He knocked on the door before opening it even though the bell would alert Jaskier to his presence. The itch faded from his body when he saw Jaskier holding Ciri in his arms, standing behind the counter.

"After what happened this morning, I don't know that I care to have you in my shop right now," Jaskier told him, serious and cautious. Geralt heard the "in my life" that was really meant by "in my shop" and he tried to push through anyway. 

He had apologized to Jaskier once. He could and would do it again.

"Renfri said to give you this back," he said quietly, placing the throwing knife next to the cash register, between it and a sturdy binder, where it wouldn't be immediately visible to customers. Jaskier looked at it for longer than Geralt thought it would have warranted. After a moment, Jaskier quickly swiped it off the counter and sheathed it where Geralt couldn't see. 

Even Ciri was eyeing Geralt with suspicion but Geralt assumed it was a result of how tightly Jaskier was holding onto her. He took the time to really look at her now.

The blonde hair, slightly frizzy, fingers curling her hands into tiny fists. He remembered those small hands. He could remember them flexing as Eskel gently took her from him and he had to stop his hands from imitating them.

Jaskier sighed and Geralt met his gaze. He looked almost sad. Geralt hated that look on him. "She is your child surprise."

"Was," Geralt corrected him. 

"There's no past tense when it comes to destiny," Jaskier told him idly, as if he wasn't clearly scared out of his mind that Geralt was about to take away Ciri. Geralt could see it now, the way he was shifted so Ciri so slightly facing away from him. Jaskier seemed to be in somewhat of a daze as he did this but kept talking. "Renfri only mentioned that she was abandoned at the scene of one of the fights. She didn't mention that she had been abandoned by a Witcher."

Geralt wanted to say that he had not abandoned her. He had picked her up, held her in his arms, and had gotten so terrified that Eskel took her from him without Geralt even having to ask. He wanted to tell Jaskier all of that but he couldn't get the words out. 

"And now you have been brought back into her life."

"I will not take her from you," Geralt said, finally harnessing his emotions. He had to make Jaskier understand. "She is yours," he said earnestly. "I could not...I did not..." he shook his head. He wasn't doing this right. He felt Jaskier's hand on his arm and he froze. He did not deserve such kindness.

Taking a deep breath, Geralt tried one last time. "She is yours, Jaskier," he said, as solemn as he could manage. 

Jaskier looked at him, not moving his hand from Geralt's arm. Ciri leaned against her father's shoulder, still watching them both but content to suck on her own hand that she had managed to fit inside her mouth as the two of them spoke. 

"And?" Jaskier asked. Geralt knew what he wanted. He wanted it too.

"I will...stay," he promised. 

Jaskier nodded. "All right."

"All right?" Geralt asked, hopefully.

"For now."

Geralt sighed, closing his eyes for a moment and reaching up his hand to cover Jaskier's. Enough for now.


	6. Chapter 5

If Geralt hadn't remembered the odd sensation of how easy it was for him and his brothers to slip into Renfri's circle and feel comfortable, he would have been more wary at how at ease he felt around Jaskier in just under a month. Jaskier and Renfri weren't magic by way of potions or immortal by way of a curse. It was something bigger, more substantial. Something that the Witchers had been willing not to question because of the alliance they had but Geralt could tell it was just as strong in Jaskier as it was in Renfri.

Although, perhaps for a different reason than he had with Renfri, Geralt was willing to let himself be swept up in Jaskier's life. 

Which also meant Ciri's life.

The same low level hum his medallion gave off around Renfri made itself known around both Jaskier and Ciri. It was barely a buzz, unnoticeable unless he concentrated.

Like an electronic device that was plugged into an outlet even though the lightswitch hadn't yet been flipped. A potential.

He hadn't seen Jaskier use any magic though he had seen a glass explode during one of Ciri's rare temper tantrums. 

_"I'd put that down while she's screaming," Jaskier advised him calmly, nodding to the glass in his hand, as if he didn't have a two year old hysterically crying in his arms._

_"Do you need help?" Geralt asked, looking from the drinking glass to Jaskier to Ciri, distraught due to the lack of cookies in her hands. Jaskier had said only two cookies and he had meant two cookies._

_Ciri took a deep breath and Jaskier and Geralt both braced themselves for the next scream. Geralt blinked and Ciri was still in Jaskier's arms but his drinking glass was no longer in his hand. It was in pieces surrounding him on the floor._

_"Tried to warn you," Jaskier said exasperatedly. "That's the third just this month. I'm going to need a new set again pretty soon._

Geralt murmured hello to Cirilla as he came back down into the music shop, holding a plastic bottle of water, having learnt his lesson thoroughly in the weeks prior. 

Quiet days had always been Geralt's favorite even before meeting Jaskier and Ciri but there was something to be said about spending them in the music shop. No students waiting for lessons or pompous collectors trying to sell Jaskier a supposedly antique instrument that hadn't even been around for a half century, let alone two like they claimed. Just Jaskier talking about his past lives and Geralt, after a while, offering tidbits of the eras he remembered. Never with as much detail as Jaskier claimed to want, however. 

With Ciri distracted by a touch-and-feel Daniel Tiger book and no customers, Jaskier was also free to work on his own music. Usually that meant plucking out a melody on a guitar or occasionally the shop piano but not today apparently. 

Geralt watched Jaskier go to the far end of the shop and unlock a display case that was mounted high on the wall above the shelves and other instruments. With one eye still on Ciri, Geralt quickly walked over to steady Jaskier as he balanced himself on a steel frame shelf and a very wobbly tuba case with no flat sides.

"Thank you, darling. Something different this afternoon, I think." Jaskier grinned at Geralt and held out his prize for inspection.

“I have not seen a lute in a very long time," Geralt hummed appreciatively. It was old, and well-loved if the way Jaskier hugged it to his chest was any indication. Even with the age, not a peg looked out of place. The inlay was shining and even Geralt could appreciate the craftsmanship. 

"I have had it for a very long time." Jaskier winked at him. "Before all this, back when Renfri and I didn't even know we were going to last as long as we have."

Geralt wanted to ask more but stopped himself. It was already more than he had known about the two of them. They rarely discussed their siblings. Was Jaskier implying they didn't always know they were immortal? "Are you allowed to be telling me this?" 

"Consider me the last stronghold before the castle," Jaskier explained slowly, letting his fingers dance over a few of strings, testing but not plucking just yet. "Besides if we are...doing whatever we're doing, you'll know me. And you can't know me without knowing Renfri." He shot Geralt a smile and finally strummed the lute, using his foot to push the tuba case out of the way.

He strolled up and down the aisles of the shop, catching Geralt's eyes whenever he found a direct line of sight, making his way towards his daughter and singing loudly for her.

_Cirilla so bella_   
_The fellas will tell ya_   
_How it is to be graced_   
_With your lovely face_

Ciri clapped so enthusiastically that she knocked her book right off of her little table and Geralt clutched uselessly at his water bottle.

Laughing along with her, Jaskier told Geralt, "I was a bard."

Geralt groaned, "Of course you were a bard."

If anything, Jaskier wasn't cowed by Geralt's exhaustion but spurred on by it. "And this was my lute," he said proudly, strumming it once more. "Well, it still is my lute, I suppose. But you know what I mean."

"It looks..."

"Elven-made," Jaskier finished for him. "Good eye. It was a gift, of course."

"I used to hate bards," Geralt admitted. "Whether they sang good or bad about Witchers, it was always annoying."

Jaskier's eyes sparkled and he did a little flourishing spin. The tune on the lute now sounded almost too familiar. "You'd rather they toss insults at you as opposed to coin?"

"Don't you dare..." Geralt growled at him. Ciri babbled, reaching her for father who leaned down to kiss the top of her head before launching into the song.

_Toss a coin to your Witcher_   
_O valley of plenty, whoa-oh-oh_

Geralt leaned down to Ciri's level and seriously asked her, "Free me from this." Jaskier winked at the both of them. "I thought I wouldn't hear that song again and I wasn't mad about that prospect, Jaskier."

"Geralt," Jasker laughed helplessly and Geralt couldn't look away. "I wrote that one!" 

“You?” He straightened up. Jaskier didn't seem insulted by Geralt's hatred of his song, thank fuck because Geralt couldn't and wouldn't take it back. Even if he had felt a slight twinge of guilt at the reveal. 

Jaskier hummed the next verse and Geralt mourned the potential free space in his brain that instead still held onto the words after all this time. “Of course! I had been saved from by a Witcher and wanted to show my thanks.”

"Who?" Geralt asked, too quickly. 

Jaskier's expression softened and he continued to play the lute, almost as though he didn't notice he was still doing it. "His name was Coën. I've had Renfri ask after him before but he left us some time ago it seems." The fondness that usually rolled off of Jaskier staled into sadness.

"He has," Geralt confirmed quietly. He remembered Coën. Geralt remembered all Witchers, especially those they had lost in the past centuries. They all fought to do their memories proud. "He was one of the best of us."

"I told him that I'd write something to change peoples minds about Witchers. The next time we met, he said he didn't know if he wanted to hug me or wring my neck."

"Let me guess what he chose," Geralt teased and Jaskier smiled at him. He could almost see them meeting in a village, maybe after Coën battled some creature. Jaskier with his lute, one of the few people ever excited to see a Witcher even after the monster was dispatched. He wagered Jaskier hugged Coën before the Witcher even had a chance to dunk himself clean in the nearest river or bath.

"Does Eskel know you wrote that song?"

Jaskier tilted his head. "Not that I know of. I don't think he cares much for the past."

Geralt grunted. That was Eskel's story to tell, not his. "Eskel once wondered why that bard couldn’t have just told them to gentle hand over a coin to the Witcher. Lightly lob a coin. Tossing meant more than a dozen hit my head during that decade alone."

Jaskier's laugh was a bright, happy sound and Geralt felt it echoing in his head long after it had stopped. 

"Dear me, I'll have to apologize next time I see him. How tech-savvy is he? Can I change his ringtone to the song or will that be the end of me?"

"You recorded it?" Geralt asked in horror.

Jaskier just laughed again, placing his lute down on the counter and taking Ciri into his arms, twirling around with her, still humming between words. "No but I'd be willing to."  
  
"Something tells me it's hard enough to keep you safe without you actively diving into trouble."

"That's a lovely compliment, dear." Geralt hoped his ears weren't turning red at the pet name. "And you, my darling, need real pants." Jaskier plucked Ciri out of her chair and gave her a little toss into the air. He caught her safely and went right into rocking her, trying to placate her at the mere prospect of real pants.

"Hmm?" Geralt watched as Ciri fought and tried to claw her way out of her father's grasp as he attempted to put a pair of soft blue leggings on her. 

"We are going to the park today."

"Do you not have a store to run?"

As if he didn't hear him, Jaskier just kissed him on the cheek and asked "Do you want to carry the baby or the picnic basket?"

The answer was picnic basket, of course. While Geralt wasn't exactly treating Cirilla with the same amount of suspicion as he had when he met her, he still found himself a little uneasy. He was willing to admit that it was less about her being the child surprise and more about the fact that he had never been around children much. 

"Now is a good a time as any to learn. And she's older now so you don't even have to support her head. She's got that down."

"She was so...tiny. Back then, I mean," Geralt said quietly, trying to reconcile that helpless child with the one who had her father buying new glassware quarterly.

Jaskier graciously didn't mention that he remembered that. Now that he had reconstructed the entire timeline thanks to information from Geralt, he knew that Renfri had spirited Ciri away to him almost instantly. He genuinely couldn't understand who could see a baby as tiny as Ciri and say "No thank you." Though, he knew in Geralt's case, the reasoning was more complex and also probably included far more expletives and panic. 

The park was blessedly close and Geralt had to wonder if that was by design of either Jaskier or Renfri. Maybe even Yennefer. Still, he felt out of place in his dark clothing surrounded by other groups enjoying the sunshine. Ciri growled at him and he took himself out of the trance, holding out another goldfish cracker for her. 

The picnic blanket Jaskier had set up matched his and Ciri's outfits. Blue plaid that was near the same pattern on Ciri's leggings and his own buttondown. Geralt had to wonder if, like Jaskier said, they were doing this, if Jaskier would have picked out something for him to match as well.

"I can't tell if she's trying to say Geralt or if she's trying to imitate your growling. Both options are so similar. Either way, it's very charming."

"Growling for more crackers most likely."

"She'll eat me out of home just for the crackers," Jaskier joked. "No regrets though, obviously."

"Did you..." Geralt trailed off, wondering if it was too personal a question to ask. He knew it would be for Yennefer but Jaskier was more of an open book than any of them.

"Go on, darling," Jaskier encouraged him with a smile, handing him a bundle of carrot sticks. Geralt stared at them, trying to figure out if he could pass off interpreting the coaxing as just attempting to get him to eat the vegetables.

He was only able to get out one word. "Children?" He asked, closing his eyes and trying not to feel foolish for not forming a full sentence. As always, Jaskier took pity on him. 

"Oh, Renfri and I have raised a few children on and off over the centuries." He waved his hand around and Geralt felt that comfort again. Jaskier was like him. He had lived long, learnt...lessons presumably, at some point, but Geralt had also watched him forget to turn off the hob two mornings in a row. "Never at the same time and some for a few weeks, others for a few years. I miss them all, of course. Some human, some...less," he says dryly, shooting a glance at Ciri who is too busy chewing on her spoon to notice her father's attention. "Rarely from such a young age and well, not for quite some time. Yennefer hates this modern paperwork, you see."

"Hmm." Geralt could relate. He hated it too but he wasn't the one having to magic forms anytime something or someone went sideways.

"So it's a nice change of pace and she needed someone. She and Renfri," Jaskier corrected himself. “Renfri had a way to protect her while keeping her close for destiny along and a way to convince me to stay out of harm's way for a little while." Jaskier gave a little nervous laugh. "I was, well, I am less visible right now. It was clever and even though I’m annoyed by it when I think too much about it, I’ll never regret it. Her.”

"Do you miss it?" Geralt asked. Various Witchers had tried to settle down over the centuries. Some with success, some not, like Coën. Never Geralt and his brothers though. 

"Hmm. Parts of it. There's nothing quite like the satisfaction of being underestimated by your foe." Jaskier smiled and Geralt wondered where the throwing knife was. He thought idly about Jaskier letting him search for it one day.

"I love my sister. She is...I know you rarely crossed paths with her back then but I'm one less thing for her to worry about now. Well," Jaskier tilted his head. "Worry less about, anyway, for a little while. She tried to get me to have shops or go off on hunts for things that ended up not existing. I was...a little foolhardy."

Geralt knew that had to be more than an understatement. "A little?"

"Shush, don't tease." Geralt raised an eyebrow and Jaskier snorted. "I'm responsible. I was a professor, you know."

Which is how Geralt ended up listening to the history of Oxenfort Academy, a school that he had hoped never to hear about ever again. The kind of troubles scientists and academics got up to were downright irresponsible. He told Jaskier so and shifting Ciri to his hip as they walked back to the music shop, the former bard clasped his hand over his heart.

"Geralt, I've never done anything irresponsible in my life, surely you must believe me." 

Geralt held the door to the shop open for Jaskier, watching Ciri reach for him once again. "I'll have to ask your sister about that next time I see her. Or even Eskel."

"Eskel is my best friend," Jaskier said so confidently that if Geralt couldn't smell the outrageous lie, he would have thought otherwise. He dropped Ciri in her activity chair and stroked his lute's neck. "He is my favorite Witcher and would never betray me in such a way." 

"Hmm." This time Geralt let himself hold Jaskier's hips steady as he reached up to lock the lute away in its display case. Jaskier let himself ponder at it for a moment before moving a box of capos in front of it. Not to hide it completely but so that it wasn't immediately visible. Geralt let his voice get low and raspy before asking, "He's your favorite Witcher, is he?"

"Well, perhaps someone is coming up the rankings." Jaskier tilted his head so he could look down and meet Geralt's eyes. "I'm teaching a lesson at two," Jaskier reminded him, tapping his shoulder to let him know he was ready to come down off of the wobbly tuba case. 

Geralt lost count about the amount of times Jaskier told him his schedule but it was nice that it was never in an exasperated way. He couldn't tell if Jaskier thought he needed to hear the plans again or if he had forgotten he had told Geralt in the first place. Either way, it worked for them. 

He gripped Jaskier's hips a little tighter, letting himself really feel the sensation of Jaskier's hands braced on his shoulders. 

Jaskier took a deep breath. Geralt’s hands on him over his shirt somehow felt better than they would have if they had snuck under it. Whether it was from the fabric against his sides or the authority with which Geralt let his fingers rub at his sides. 

The hum from Geralt wasn't inquisitive but sounded content. Jaskier looked into his eyes and was somewhat relieved to see the Witcher had a small smile on his face. It gave him the courage to lean forward and kiss him, if only for a moment. 

It was a quiet kiss, both of them holding back slightly and just breathing with one another. Jaskier pulled back first. Geralt would have been disappointed but Jaskier didn't take his gaze off of him. It was as though he pulled back just because he wanted to look at Geralt. The solid weight of Jaskier's arms that had moved forward to wind around Geralt's neck told him Jaskier hadn't planned on moving. Though perhaps Jaskier should step off the wobbly tuba case before they went any further. 

Jaskier's eyes narrowed ever so slightly and Geralt felt him tense. 

"Geralt, darling?" Jaskier flashed him a smile that Geralt hadn't seen yet. It looked dangerous. It reminded him of Renfri more than anything else. 

"Jaskier?" He asked, hands tightening on Jaskier's hips. 

"Duck."

Geralt obeyed.

In an instant, Jaskier had grabbed a piccolo off the shelf's display stand and whipped it at the vampire that had materialized inside the shop.

Geralt whirled around, taking a dagger out of his jacket and followed the piccolo's exact trajectory. Jaskier's aim had been true. 

"You know I gave you one of your knives back?" Geralt reminded him, going in to deliver the final blow as Jaskier made a dash for Cirilla, scooping her up in his arms.

"The piccolo was closer, Geralt,” Jaskier told him with a huff, as though it was obvious.

“Get in the back," Geralt ordered but Jaskier shook his head, one arm holding Ciri close to him and the other already on his phone. It took little coaxing for Ciri to bury her face in Jaskier's neck while Geralt truly dispatched the single vampire and locked the door to the shop. 

"I'm alerting, Yen. We're staying right here where we can see each other." Geralt wasn't going to argue with Jaskier even if he desperately wanted to. He kept in front of them, blocking them their way out into the store so that they stayed by the cash register. 

No more followed. There was a silence Geralt hated. They must have been followed from the park but surely a vampire nest wouldn't have only sent one soldier. Not against a Witcher and probably not even against just Jaskier himself. 

He smelled it before Jaskier did. 

"Smoke," he spat, whirling around. Jaskier looked at him, wide-eyed. Geralt could hear the phone ringing in his hand and Yennefer's voice. He couldn't see a fire just yet but the smoke was growing stronger. His eyes flicked towards the ceiling. Perhaps in the apartment.

"Now Yennefer!" Geralt hollered at the phone before Jaskier could lift it up to his mouth. "The shop."

The line went dead and a portal appeared as fast as Geralt had ever seen. Yennefer stepped out in a rush, seeing first the broken piccolo, then the body of the vampire. 

"Only one of them, then a fire," Geralt told Yennefer quickly. "I only just smelled it. It must not have started long ago but there have got to be more of them. Either upstairs or in the back room.

Jaskier looked at the swirling portal to the windows of the shop with the curtains open. "Yen--"

"No one will see it if you-- Get! In!" Yennefer hurried him. Before Jaskier could make the decision for himself, Renfri herself sprinted out of the portal, took in the body, the smoke, and the occupants and let out a snarl. She grabbed her brother's waist and nearly hurled him and Ciri into the portal. 

The smoke was filling the shop now and Geralt's eyes darted between the back door and the front. Still no sign of more vampires. 

"Geralt, there's no one else here. Let's go." Yennefer ordered and he obeyed, bracing himself as he headed through the portal.

Again there was silence.

They were in Renfri's office. It was startlingly quiet and Geralt kept listening for intruders who weren't there. He heard five heartbeats. His own, Renfri, Yennefer, Jaskier, and Ciri.

A breath did nothing to calm him of the adrenaline he was feeling. It had never felt like this during a normal hunt but those also hadn't involved Jaskier and Ciri. 

He looked at the two of them, getting checked over by Renfri, the siblings whispering to one another, Jaskier going over what they had done and where they had gone during the day. 

Geralt thought about the shop, all of Jaskier's instruments and Ciri's beloved stuffed animals. The body. They had their work cut out for them. 

"Geralt," Jaskier said breathless, relieved. Ciri's tear-streaked face in combination with Jaskier's wild eyes made Geralt feel sick. He hit Geralt like a train but there were no complaints, not even from Ciri who reached out to the Witcher, trying to beat her father in who could get closest. 

Renfri watched them carefully but even as Geralt paid close attention to his new and welcome barnacles, he heard her talking to Yennefer.

"From the park, Jaskier thinks. I'll have Lambert head back. He'll deal with the fire and see if he recognizes the body. Jaskier thinks he was at the bar that night."

Geralt murmured apologetically, still holding Jaskier against him, absorbing the new information. He hadn't recognized the vampire but Jaskier had been at the bar long before he & Lambert had showed up.

Yen tried to take Ciri but she was holding tightly to her father with one hand fisted in Geralt's hair. "Your lute," Geralt remembered, sighing. Jaskier had been so proud of his oldest instrument, the gift. 

Jaskier's head moved side to side against Geralt's neck. “It’ll be fine," Jaskier's muffled voice told him. Geralt thought he detected a laugh there and didn't want to be wrong. He would take any of Jaskier's laughs over the terror he had seen. "Elves, remember? Besides, we got the important things."

"Are you all right?" Yennefer asked, coming up beside them and rubbing Jaskier's back.

"Why are you only asking him?" Geralt asked, able to breathe again now that they were safe and there was a plan. 

No one had yet breached headquarters and Lambert was on the case. They were fine right now. They would work this out. 

"I don't care about you," Yen said plainly, smiling at Geralt as she knew Jaskier couldn't see it.

Jaskier barked out a weepy laugh and leaned back so his face wasn't pressed directly into Geralt's neck anymore. He didn't try to move further but Geralt's hold on him would have dissuaded any notions of that regardless. "Yen, darling, you're fantastic. We're all fine, I swear it."

Even with his voice shaking a little and his fingers clutched around his daughter and in Geralt's shirt, Jaskier met Yennefer's eyes without hesitation. He looked at his sister. Geralt could see the resemblance between Jaskier and Renfri more than ever now. It was evident that Renfri was thinking of it too. 

He asked, "Now what?"


	7. Chapter 6

"Are you all right to take us to my house?" Renfri was looking at Yennefer. "You've done a lot of portals today and tomorrow night will only take more of a toll on you."

Yennefer shook her head. "It's not far. And it's safer for them." Jaskier looked a little green as another portal opened up. He held Ciri tighter, ignoring her babbling of "Yen purple. Purple!" and followed Renfri through, with Geralt & the others close behind. 

Geralt hadn't ever been in Renfri's house. He wasn't surprised to see that the cozy aesthetic that had been in Jaskier's apartment was copied here. Older but comfortable couches, an array of throw blankets, and enough wood paneling through the whole first floor to have been a forest. He peered through the dark curtains to the street and recognized the intersection that was only three blocks away from their headquarters. Still he was glad for the portal. Someone could still be waiting for them.

"Jaskier, you're safe here." Wtih Jaskier's sister assuring him that he was safe, had Jaskier's shoulders falling with bleeding tension. Still, it was Geralt's shoulder he was leaning against as Renfri spoke quietly to him.

"I am so tired, Renri." He passed Ciri to Yennefer who handed her over to Eskel who somehow looked as comfortable holding a child as he did two years prior. Geralt envied his ability to instinctively know how where to put his hands. 

"Take him upstairs."

But Jaskier didn't want to let go of Geralt's arm. "Not yet. Tell me the plan."

"Jaskier."

"Renfri."

Siblings. Geralt watched closely as neither wanted to back down. There was no playfulness as there had been the night at the bar. No Jaskier smirking or Renfri looking for someone to throw him over their shoulder. 

The two of them had Witcher stubbornness and once Eskel and Lambert hadn't spoken for two decades. This was getting them nowhere. 

Geralt spoke before he could think about it too hard. "You smell like Renfri."

Jaskier went stiff against him. Renfri stood up straight and took a step back, sizing up Geralt. 

"Vampires can't...oh god. A higher vampire?"

He twisted around to look at Geralt. He was powerless to look away from Jaskier. "You knew."

"He figured it out first. Our shared smell."

Jaskier's eyes hadn't left Geralt's. His body was tense and he was waiting for an answer. "I didn't think it was...important." Geralt knew that answer wasn't good enough. "You knew I was there to protect you. We knew you were in danger."

Jaskier turned his attention back to his sister. He hadn't moved out of Geralt's grasp which Geralt counted as a victory but he knew it could happen easily at any moment. "We haven't seen a higher vampire in years."

"That doesn't mean they haven't seen us." Renfri looked out the same window Geralt had just used. The street lights weren't on yet but they would be soon enough. She gestured for them to follow her into her kitchen which was just as outdated as the rest of the house. Unless Renfri was a fan of a faded avocado color swatch, Geralt wasn't sure how the fridge was still functioning unless it was pure spite. 

Renfri took out a few containers of tupperware from the fridge and Jaskier hoisted himself up into a stool by the laminate counter. Geralt didn't sit but instead, stood behind Jaskier, letting him lean against his chest as Renfri tried to feed him falafel that had seen better days. Her phone buzzed but before looking at it, she kissed the top of her brother's head. "We can talk about this more tomorrow. You need to eat and then rest and I need to speak to the rest of the crew."

A testament to his exhaustion was Jaskier waiting until his sister was out of the room to argue. "I won't sleep, I can't." Whatever adrenaline that had Jaskier able to pick at the pieces of cucumber from the leftover takeaway was leaving him and Geralt felt him get heavier as he let the Witcher take on more of his weight.

"You're tired." They were all tired but Geralt wouldn't rest until Jaskier was asleep. He couldn't. 

"I know that," Jaskier snapped. He shook his head. "Sorry, I'm sorry."

Knowing most of the house had superior hearing, Geralt didn't bother to lower his voice as he offered, "You could just wear down a path in the house with your pacing and then I'll catch you when you drop."

"Seems like a lot of work for you."

"I don't mind."

"I know."

This time, Geralt did lower his voice. He back leaned into Jaskier so only he could hear the words just meant for him. “Will you...let me hold you, please?” 

Jaskier laughed and spun around in the stool. He pressed a hand to Geralt's cheek and gave him a kiss. “I won’t let you do anything but hold me.”

\------

“Ciri?” Jaskier murmured, a whole hour later. 

“Yen’s got her,” Geralt grumbled and repositioned himself. The couch wasn't necessarily big enough for the two of them but Jaskier was laying directly on top of Geralt. He hadn't wanted to use one of Renfri's rooms and insisted on staying downstairs in the front room. 

“Geralt?” 

“Geralt’s got Jaskier.” Eskel says confidently, not bothering to look at his brother or Jaskier, still focused on the maps in front of him. Geralt glared at him but Eskel ignored him. 

Jaskier's short burst of laughter was silent but Geralt could feel the shaking of his body. He brought a hand up to rest on Jaskier's back, hoping the heavy weight would be somewhat of a comfort. Jaskier shifted once more and Geralt felt his breathing steady out again that quickly. 

“Can we speak a moment?" Renfri's voice came from the doorway. Geralt had ignored her in prior intervals at she had come in and out of the room. Whatever was going to happen between Jaskier and her was going to be uncomfortable but he would not let Jaskier handle it alone. 

“He’s safe here.”

Geralt very carefully did not roll his eyes. He was calm in his response. “I know he’s safe. My own brother is in the room.” 

Renfri’s expression softened. “It’ll only take a few minutes. He won’t wake up while you’re gone. I’ve seen Jaskier sleep through earthquakes.”

She was still his boss. Delicately, Geralt removed himself from underneath of Jaskier, placing a throw pillow into his arms so he could curl around it. He looked peaceful on the couch or at least, his sleep hadn't been too disturbed since he had finally managed some. He nodded to Eskel and followed Renfri. 

"You know, Jaskier is my brother through blood. Genetically, I suppose, they call it these days." Geralt hadn't ever questioned that. They were too similar to be otherwise though he supposed he & Eskel looked near twins regardless of shared blood. "Together, we've been through more than I'd care to say. I try to keep him close and safe. I've learned a long time ago that it wouldn't do to send him too far away or hide him. Without a captive audience, he’ll be miserable."

Geralt was about to say that if he was around, Jaskier would always have a captive audience.

Renfri had worked with the Witchers long enough to hear it anyway. “Don’t say something horribly romantic without Jaskier around to hear it. He’d never forgive you."

"If you do not tell him about the plan, I will," Geralt told her quietly. "If he is kept in the dark, it will be..." He couldn't think of the words so he just hummed. "It should come from you."

"I know."

\--------

The next day seemed to come in waves. Jaskier and Ciri finally moved upstairs as more crew showed up at Renfri's house, she being unwilling to leave her brother unprotected until it was absolutely necessary. They came slowly and in pairs, some recognizing Jaskier and others ignoring everything that wasn't Renfri and her instructions. 

Geralt stayed with them as much as he could, sitting on the floor and letting Ciri crawl into the space between his crossed legs as Jaskier sung softly. At some point during the night, his lute had showed up. He shook his head when Geralt asked and told him to ask Yennefer as he wasn't sure of the specifics regarding the powerful protection enchantment the witch had placed on it. Still, Jaskier's soft strumming and Ciri's insistence on putting toy cars in her mouth was more a comfort in that small room than Geralt could express.

When Renfri finally came up the stairs, Geralt was ready but so was Jaskier. He asked his sister the question before she could offer him anything. 

"Just tell me this....is it him?"

"Yes."

"God, I really hate vampires."

"Jaskier," Geralt said quietly, after a moment of silence. It was more a question than anything else.

"Two hundred years ago we were fighting a vampire nest in..." Jaskier blinked slowly and looked at his sister. "The Pacific Northwest? America, yes?" Renfri nodded to confirm. She hadn't moved and neither had Geralt. He hated the robotic candor of Jaskier's voice. "It didn't end well for us and I was...taken."

Renfri took over swiftly and Jaskier mercifully leaned back into Geralt. He wanted to grip him tightly but instead, he just wrapped his arms around him, offering what felt like not nearly enough. "I almost didn't get him back. Not many of them got away but of course the higher vampire did. Gheorghe. He's had plenty of surnames over the years but none that have stuck."

"I stopped going with you after that."

"I wouldn't have let you anyway." Geralt knew that they both knew nothing could have stopped Jaskier if it was something he had truly wanted to go back to doing. 

"So what does that mean for now? I know you were trying to get a foot in the neighborhood with the bar but why there?" 

Renfri mulled over her answer but it was too long of a time for Jaskier. He had figured it out. 

"Oh my god. You've learned how to track the nest," Jaskier said, quietly and in awe. Renfri didn't bother trying to convince him that he was wrong. It would be better for him to know what was coming. Besides, she had a better plan to keep him safe. "After all this time. You knew this would be coming. That's why we moved here,” Jaskier accused, very aware of the weight of Ciri in his arms. 

“I’ll have you safe,” Renfri swore, like a prayer she had been repeating since she was old enough to fixate on a mantra. “You and my niece will be safe. We’ll come for you when it’s done.”

All the glowering in the world wouldn’t do anything but Jaskier did it anyway. He wouldn’t leave Ciri either alone or to be orphaned. Renfri knew that. When Ciri showed up in Geralt's arms two years ago, Renfri saw it as just another opportunity to protect Jaskier while destiny waited. Sure she hadn't anticipated her brother and a Witcher raising the girl together but she wasn't going to argue with destiny if she could stand it.

"I gave you your throwing knife back. You have more than two sets and they're here."

"I thought you gave it back to me because--" Jaskier looked from Renfri to Geralt and shook his head. "What's your plan?" he asked quietly.

Renfri tried one last time, "It'll be better if--"

"Don't you dare give me that, Renfri." Geralt hadn't heard Jaskier sound like this before and judging by Renfri's expression, it had been a while for her. 

"I won't have you on some fool's errand if something goes wrong."

"You'll only make my revenge hunt more difficult." Jaskier's voice was light but his eyes were hard. Geralt wasn't about to intervene but just as he had told Renfri, he knew that he would tell Jaskier whatever he wanted to know. That would be a last resort though. He didn't want to come between the two of them. Not unless he had to, for Jaskier's sake. 

"It's about our scents," Renfri told him finally. "We've been working for a while, testing it with some of the Witchers. If we're going to ambush, a proper one, they can't hear, see, or smell us coming. Yen letting us all in through a portal would still be one at a time. It's not enough."

She led him over to the maps Eskel had been pouring over. Spaces in the city were marked, including O'Malleys. "In the same way we've been able to test hiding our scents, we've been able to magnify theirs." Renfri gestured towards the Geralt. 

"I thought your potions enhance all your senses?" Jaskier looked up at Geralt curiously. "You were able to isolate just scent?"

"After many trials," he confirmed, wincing as he remembered some of them. "Lambert had to keep a blindfold over his eyes for three days after we thought we had honed in on the proper ingredient and were mistaken."

"We go there, hidden, and surround them. They do not know we're coming and they'll think we're waiting after the fire at your shop. They'll expect us back at O'Malleys because we've sent a few notable people there to case it. With any luck, that looks like our move to them right now."

Jaskier was silent for a moment, taking in everything his sister had told him. Then he looked up at her, "When do you leave?"

She looked at Geralt and then to her brother. "Whenever Geralt comes downstairs." Renfri left the room, leaving the three of them together. Geralt helped Jaskier up off of the floor. He thought carefully about how Eskel held Ciri before leaning down, supporting her under his arms, and holding her hoisted up against his torso. 

Jaskier kissed his daughter on the cheek and wrapped both arms around Geralt's waist. They stood there together in silence and Geralt let himself sink into the two heartbeats of the ones he was holding. 

“You come back to us,” Jaskier ordered quietly. 

"Yes." Geralt knew was the only answer he could good. He tried to keep a clear head but when Jaskier said "us," he couldn't help but imagine the three of them in Jaskier's home together. Geralt watching Ciri as Jaskier taught music lessons so she wouldn't have to be locked in her playpen. Jaskier teaching Ciri how to play her first instrument and insisting that Geralt learn alongside her to show her that mistakes were just part of learning. Ciri crawling into their bed after a nightmare and Geralt being able to hold his family all at once through the night to comfort them into sleeping.

"All in good time," Jaskier told him, just as soft. The look in his eyes would have embarrassed Geralt on any other day but instead he kissed Jaskier. He wasn't used to feeling vulnerable or easily read by anyone, not even his own brothers. But Jaskier was able to look right at Geralt and know what he wanted. Not only that, but Jaskier would insist upon it. 

Geralt knew without a doubt that he would come back to Jaskier and Ciri. 


	8. Epilogue [Three Weeks Later]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Three Weeks Later]

The inside of the store was essentially untouched. As the fire had mostly been on the second floor, that meant the awful carpet on the first level had been spared. The steel shelves had vanished along with the inventory. The only reminder of how it used to be a shop was the unplugged cash register still sitting on the check out desk. 

"No more music shop." Jaskier sounded only slightly mournful but Geralt knew he was eager to move on. Both from the building and the career. The way Renfri spoke on it, Jaskier switched careers every decade or so. 

"Where did all the instruments go?" Geralt asked more for his own knowledge as opposed to caring. He had come awake more times than none to Jaskier loudly testing a fix he had done on an instrument in a different room. It was hard to believe that that wouldn't be his lot in life anymore. 

Jaskier leaned over the desk, double-checking the true emptiness of it. "I've got a few, obviously. My lute, of course. A keyboard, guitar, some odds and ends. The rest went to various schools and such. Yen helped me." He pointed to the witch who was currently removing her wards from the interior of the building. 

Geralt noticed the very specific wording there. He held out his hand and Jaskier took it, accepting the embrace. "Did you break into schools to give them instruments?"

"What was the other option? Paper work? That would just leave a trail."

"Something tells me it was the work part that had you avoiding it as opposed to the trail." Geralt's voice was so low that the grumbling vibrated in his chest. Jaskier leaned his head on it, just listening as Geralt kept up the rumbling long after his sentence was done because he knew Jaskier liked it. "What's next?"

"Once Renfri gives me a neighborhood--"

"Us," Geralt corrected him quietly. 

"Yes, of course," Jaskier said, smiling at Geralt. He kissed the underside of Geralt's jaw. "Once she gives us a neighborhood, I'll figure it out from there. Eskel mentioned something about goats. How would you feel about a cheese shop?"

"I like cheese."

"A bakery?"

"You owned a bakery before and you spent the whole six years complaining about getting up at 4am,” Yennefer veto’d the suggestion.

"Because that part was awful. But the bread," he assured Geralt, "the bread made it all worth it."

"Book shop? Thrift store?" Geralt suggested. He'd take waking up to a tuba at 7am as opposed to waking up to a baker's alarm at 3am. 

"Both?" Yennefer's expression melted into innocence when Geralt glared at her. Jaskier did not need to do both.

Jaskier hummed to himself. "I’m at the book shop. I’m at the thrift store. I’m at the combination book shop thrift store."

"You haven’t had a bookstore yet?"

"Books were expensive, Geralt. You know that. It wouldn’t have been very inconspicuous. Not until recently at least. Now there are enough books being printed that half the shops that sell them carry strictly a used stock."

"You just want books because you think it’d be quieter." Geralt winced at Yennefer's accusation but she wasn't wrong. 

"Anything will be quieter after a music shop."

"But think teenagers who will come into a trendy thrift store! All the clothes, Geralt."

Against all possibility, Geralt's face grew paler. He had so many regrets. "Please no."

The subsequent laughter fell silent as heavy footfalls on the stairs came closer to them. Eskel appeared in the doorway, carrying a Ciri who was eagerly chewing at a toy unicorn. "Upstairs is clear." He handed Ciri over to Jaskier. "And her royal highness is eating her stuffed animal with a bit too much force, I think."

"Ah, is it lunch time, my darlings?" Jaskier rubbed his nose against Ciri's as she squirmed around at hearing the word 'lunch.' "Shall we?" 

"Are you sure you have everything."

"All clear," Jaskier confirmed. The only waver in his voice didn't come from uncertainty but just emotion as he had whenever he moved on. Yennefer and Eskel gave them their space, leaving the empty shop ahead of all the small family so it was just Geralt holding Jaskier and Jaskier holding Ciri. 

Hefting Ciri closer to him with one arm, Jaskier snuck his other around Geralt's waist, leaning in to take a deep breath. "It's not like I met you here. I met you at that awful O'Malley's place but still."

Geralt shook his head. "I met Gregory at that bar. I met Jaskier and Ciri here." He kissed Jaskier and touched his forehead to Jaskier's before pulling away. "Maybe in a few decades, it'll still be here and we'll come back to this place."

Jaskier's laugh sounded like a slightly watery hiccup. Geralt graciously didn't point it out. "Don't tempt destiny. She'll give us the place back with the terrible carpet and all."

He handed Ciri to Geralt, who took her with ease. Even though her toy unicorn was still firmly gripped in one hand, her other, as always, went right to playing with his hair. He braced himself as Jaskier flipped off the lights for the last time. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for all your comments, i really have been appreciating them & I hope you all enjoyed this story. also defund the police, contact your city reps, & don't forget to vote, thx.


End file.
